Expression Systems and Protein Production in Filamentous Fungi

Abstract

Filamentous fungi have been of both academic and commercial interest for many years. The last few years have seen the techniques of genetic manipulation extended to a wide range of filamentous fungi. Initially, work was carried out with the genetically well characterised fungi such as Aspergillus nidulans and Neurospora crassa, but there has been a growing interest in application of these techniques to commercially important fungi. Antibiotics (Penicillium chrysogenum, Cephalosporium acremonium), organic acids (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terreus) and enzymes (A. niger, A. oryzae, A. awamori, Trichoderma reesei) are the major economically important products from fungi, and application of molecular techniques is seen as a way of either improving current processes or using the fungi as hosts for production of heterologous proteins. Fungi already used for pharmaceutical or food products are seen to have a commercial advantage for heterologous protein production in that they enjoy the GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).